Kyle Kirkwood ultimately claimed IndyCar St Louis race victory ahead of Pato O’Ward after a chaotic 2025 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 that featured 14 different leaders and four cautions that slowed the action for 47 laps.
Under the lights at the 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Illinois, the 260-lap event unfolded with all the unpredictability and intensity that have come to define IndyCar’s premier oval contests.
Kyle Kirkwood’s win was not just a personal milestone—his first career oval victory and fifth overall in the NTT IndyCar Series—but also a pivotal moment for the Andretti Global team, capping off a successful weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway.
From the drop of the green flag, the field quickly settled into a rhythm but it was clear that tire management, pit strategy, and the ability to adapt to changing track conditions would be crucial as the night progressed.
The opening laps saw David Malukas take the lead after overtaking Will Power at Turn 3 on the opening lap, signaling his intent to control the pace.
Kirkwood, starting from 10th in his No. 27 Siemens Andretti Global Honda wasted no time advancing through the field, making decisive passes in the early laps and establishing himself as a contender.
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The first caution of the night was triggered by Devlin DeFrancesco who made contact with the wall in the opening stint, briefly neutralizing the action and allowing teams to reassess their strategies.
Upon the restart, several drivers including Conor Daly made significant gains. Daly, who started deep in the field, demonstrated his prowess on ovals by climbing an impressive nine positions within the first quarter of the race.
Malukas led the first 50 laps, building a lead of over five seconds before disaster struck for Power who made contact with the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier on Lap 46.
This incident triggered the second caution of the night and initiated a sequence of pit stops that would shuffle the running order and set the stage for the strategic battles to come.
Scott McLaughlin emerged from the pit cycle in the lead, holding the top spot through a clean middle stint. However, pit lane missteps would later prove costly for both McLaughlin and Malukas as they were penalized for improper lane usage during stops under a Lap 131 caution.
The caution itself was caused by a dramatic crash involving Josef Newgarden and Louis Foster, with Foster losing control exiting Turn 4 and sliding into Newgarden, whose car flipped and slid upside down along the frontstretch.
Meanwhile, David Malukas triggered the fourth and final caution of the race after his No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet of A.J. Foyt Enterprises brushed the Turn 4 wall on Lap 196.
As the race wore on and the field cycled through green-flag pit stops, Kirkwood’s Siemens Honda came alive. Benefiting from quick work in the pits and a perfectly executed strategy from the Andretti Global stand, he cycled to the front during the final round of stops.
With just four laps remaining, he seized the lead for the third and final time, holding off a determined challenge from Pato O’Ward and Christian Rasmussen to take IndyCar St Louis race victory by a margin of just over half a second.
A bold fuel strategy saw Scott Dixon lead 43 laps and put him a lap ahead of the field at one point, but he was ultimately caught in traffic and finished the 2025 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in fourth ahead of Santino Ferrucci.
Rinus VeeKay delivered a standout performance for Dale Coyne Racing, charging from 18th on the grid to finish seventh, showcasing both speed and racecraft on the short oval.
Championship leader Alex Palou endured a challenging night. Unfortunate pit timing during the final caution and being blocked in the pits dropped him down the order but his resilience was on display as he fought back to secure an eighth-place finish, maintaining his points lead.
Meanwhile, Robert Shwarzman finished tenth, earning PREMA Racing its best finish of the season after starting from 24th to lead five laps late in the race.
